The Two Great Remedies

This week, the faithful should be inspired when reading the stories of St. Peter of Alcantara, the spiritual director of St. Teresa of Avila; St. John Cantius, a model of generosity and humility; the Archangel Raphael, who showed such solicitous care to Tobias; and St. Luke, the Gentile physician who accompanied St. Paul in his travels and wrote the Gospel recording the early moments of Our Lord’s life recounted by the Blessed Virgin Mary herself.

When St. Anthony Mary Claret was sent from Spain to Cuba, he immediately went to work providing for the material needs of the sick and destitute he found there. On this foundation, he provided the spiritual needs to save souls. He was given private revelations in which he saw great evils descending on mankind: wars, powerful demons tempting men to illicit pleasure, greed, and false reasoning, and the global scourge of Communism. He was told that the two great remedies against these evils would be devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the recitation of the Holy Rosary.

We are urged in the Epistle to put on the protection of Jesus Christ, against the attacks of the devil. After our baptism, we are sealed as members of the Mystical Body in Sanctifying Grace. The Gospel warns about the punishment due to our sins – the debt we must pay in this life or the next. We must have great charity and be willing to forgive our neighbors’ faults. In showing kindness, we help both our neighbor and ourselves.